Improvement in means for raising sunken vessels



UNITED STATES HENRY F. KNAPP, OF NEWY YORK, N.` Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN MEANS FOR RISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Speeih'cntion forming part of Letters Patent No. 146.689, dated January 20, 1874; application tiled A June 16, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. KNAPP, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Means for Floating and Raising Sunken Vessels or Wrecks, of which the following is a specification This invention is mainly designed to be used i in connection with the means patented to me December 10, 187 2, for passing chains under a fsunken vessel for the purpose of raising it by y pontons or camels, or both combined, or getting it off shore by ways or other devices. The invention consists in certain means, and 1n peculiarities of their construction, for lloating y `or raising the wreck by the agency of camels and pontons, or either, substantially as hereinafter described, and whereby the desired end may be attained with the greatest facility, certainty, and dispatch, the camels in all cases being made with open bottoms, and the water being driven out of them to effect flotation by forcing in air.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specication, Figure 1 represents y a View in perspective of a Wreck with my i11- vention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a plan of a slotted beam used in connection with the pontons, Fig. 3, a perspective view of a lock or lclamp used with both the pontons and camels a pair of camels, C G, arranged on either side of the wreck, and the other with pontons D D on the surface of the water. In addition to the lifting-chain B, attached -at its opposite ends to the camels, the latter may be connected at their ends by a tie-chain, E, arranged to pass round the bow or end of the wreck to. `hold the camels in position, and, in case of the wreck being lloated off a sloping beach, servin g to insure the movement of the camels along with the wreck, as the latter slides down or olf f the beach. The camels C G are `left open at their bottoms, and when sunk embed themselves by their lower edges in the sand. They are braced internally by bars or braces b, arranged to slope downwardly from the upper corners of each camel toward the center of the lower portion thereof, where they meet in an eye, through which the lifting-chain `B passes, and above which said chain is made fast by a hingedlock or clamp, F, constructed substantially as shown in Fig. 3, with its' inner clamping-faces notched and formed toliold and receive within it the links of the chain when the two faces ofthe clamp are brought together or closed and secured by a hasp or other fastening. Each of these camels is provided with a man-hole and cover, d, to facilitate, by taking oli' the covers, the sinking of the camels; also, the entry within them, when i down to their places, of a diver to make fast the chain B by means of the locks or clamps F, after which the man-holes in the camels are closed to give to the latter their necessary power of otation by introducing, as by a blast-pipe, f, in connection with an air-pump on a barge above, a sufficient quantity or forced vsupply of air to expel the water from the interior of the camels. The air, however, need only thus be introduced into one of the camels, as the other camel is connected with it by a hose or pipe, G, iitted with a stop-cock or valve, (1, to regulate or apportion the pressure in them accordingly as said camels are required to exert an equal or unequal lifting-power to suit variations in the distribution ofthe load to be raised.

Any number of camels `may be thus connected, and, instead of being arranged alongside the wreck, they may be disposed along or across its deck, or both dispositions may be adopted. Said camels may be made light, ot sheet metal, the braces b serving materially to stiti'en them.

. In rough water, or in floating a vessel oil' i shore, it may be practicable to only use these camels; but in deep water, as also in smooth water, it is preferred to combine with them the pontons or barges D D, which areiloated over both sides of the wreck, and have avertically-slotted beam, I, thrown across so as to connect them. When the pontons are used, the lif ing-chain B', having been passed under the w ck, has its two ends extended above the su e of the water and passed through the slot in the beam, and through locks or clamps F, constructed as described with reference to Fig. 3, and resting on the beann,y so as to be free to move along it. The liftingchains B', of which there may be any number, are drawn or adjusted and kept in taut-hold on the wreck by the clamps F F each ebb-tide, so that the Wreck will be lifted each high or full tide till it iinally is raised to the surface of the Water, the open-bottom camels materially assisting in such notation of the Wreck.

The open-bottomed camels or inverted tanks C can be used in a seaway Where close-bottom camels could not, for the reason that when constructed with open bottoms, the camels, on being lowered alongside a sunken Vessel, Will cut their Way into the sand to a considerable depth, and thus become anchored against being moved out of position by the sea, and so admit of the lifting-chains being made fast -to them, Whereas it would be very difficult or' iinpossible in a heavy sea, either to get or retain close-bottoni camels in their required position. Furthermore, close-bottom camels, if lowered onto a rock, are apt to be punctnred or broken, While open-bottoni ones Would not, be

sides which close-bottom camels are only applica'ble vWhere' there is floatage for them, Whereas the open-bottom ones, by cutting their Way deep down into the sand or mud,

and having air pumped into them, as described, Will act as powerful. pneumatic litters, regardless of floatage, the air forced into them actvdevices or attachments for the camels C to take their hold on the Wreck, may be used.

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

1. The inverted tanks or full open-bottoni camels l, in combination with one or more lifting devices or appendages, and one or more air-blast pipes, f, applied to the camels, substantially as and for the Ypurposes herein set forth.

2. The open-bottom camels C, provided with a man-hole and cover, d, in their tops, in conibination with the internal braces b, terminating in a central eye, essentially as shown and described.

3. The slotted beam I, in combination with the pontons D D, the lifting-chain B', and clamps capable of movement along the beam, essentially as and for the purposes herein set Vforth.

HENRY F. KNAPP. 

